Rising Dragon Fist
by Tsurugi no Hiryuu
Summary: Shortly after achieving the rank of Genin, Uzumaki Naruto stumbles upon a scroll that will change his life forever. Behold, the Fist of the Rising Dragon.
1. Discovery

**A.N: And so it begins! Let's hope this turns out better than my last attempt.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I wish I did, but meh.  
**

* * *

"Rising Dragon Fist"

Chapter 1 "Intro/Discovery"

-

It seemed, at first glance, to be a rather average day in the world. To be specific, it was an average day within the Five Elemental Countries. Or more specifically, the Land of Fire. And just to be unreasonably particular, within Konohagakure no Sato.

The Village Hidden in the Leaf enjoyed it's usual hustle and bustle, including the usual sight of Genin going around doing D-Rank missions, pleasant shopkeepers doing business with equally pleasant customers, people doing chores, children playing, parents chasing, old women gossiping, and other such general activities. An average day to be sure.

On these usual days in Konoha, one could find it's local prankster and newly instated genin Uzumaki Naruto doing one of two things: doing said D-rank missions with the genin team he had recently been assigned to, Team 7, or training in the forests surrounding the ninja village.

Judging by the sea of blond hair and orange cloth writhing about as hundreds of the boy's shadow clones threw themselves into combat within the aforementioned forests, it was safe to say he was doing the latter. There was an unusual bit about this scene however.

The original sat in a tree not too far off to the side, watching his clones fight.

And if one didn't know better, one would say he was sulking.

And as fate would have it, that's exactly what he was doing. Under normal circumstances, the energetic genin wouldn't have hesitated to join in the mass training session with gusto and enthusiasm to spare, but it so happened that, contrary to his sunny personality, he truly felt like sulking on this particular day. And he firmly believed he had good reason.

As Naruto found was the usual over the course of the past few weeks, his lazy teacher couldn't be found to do what was so blatantly described in his jobs title: Teach. As such, Naruto was forced to turn to his own, admittedly, lacking methods.

Contrary to popular belief, Naruto was well aware that his fighting style was horribly flawed. Although he wouldn't have put it quite so... harshly, but the point remained. And try as he might on his own, he just couldn't make it any better without a proper teacher. Kakashi could never be found when it mattered, much to the blond genin's chagrin, and his favorite grandfather figure, the Sandaime Hokage was obviously busy doing Hokage duties. And for the big furry reason he recently found out was residing in his belly (The Kyuubi no Kitsune for the uninformed), nobody else worth their salt that he was aware of would give him the time of day.

Not that the list of ninja he knew worth their salt was particularly long, but that wasn't the point.

Even Naruto's gigantic levels of determination had their limits. And his had been reached. He wanted a proper teacher dammit! Or at least a good scroll or two! How the hell was he supposed to improve like this!?

Sighing resignedly, Naruto hopped down from his tree, his remaining clones dispelling with a pop. His thoughts had taken quite the sour turn, and watching his clones train just didn't hold any appeal at the moment.

He began wondering the forests, lost in his mopings, a rare sight to be sure. It was a truly deep session of moping, so deep that he walked the forests of Konoha for well over an hour.

And so it was somewhat forgivable that Naruto didn't notice the fact that eventually his feet had, at some point, decided to walk in the direction of a nearby cliff. A cliff leading to a rather steep drop to an expanse of forest some 80 feet down.

It was slightly less forgivable that he walked right off of it with a loud cry of surprise.

Now, Naruto was a ninja, despite appearances (yes, he was aware that orange wasn't a stealthy color, and no, he didn't give a damn, thank you very much), so the fact that he reacted fast enough to grab a tree root as his descent began was understandable. Naruto thanked his reflexes profusely, soon after turning his gratitude to the convenient tree root.

The tree root, if it could have, would have stuck it's tongue out at Naruto maliciously in response before breaking off with a snap. Or at least, that's how Naruto felt as his descent to the trees below began anew.

His screams of fear soon turned into squeals of pain as Naruto broke through the canopy, bouncing from branch to branch, tree to tree, before crashing head first through a wall of something. The resulting blackout was inevitable.

---

It was hours before Naruto's eyes even began to twitch. And he wouldn't have awakened for a few more hours had a stray moonbeam not landed directly in his eye. Lights to the eyes have a tendency to force one to wake up.

The genin sat up groggily, blinking forced sleep from his eyes. A moment later, when he tried to hop up to his feet, he immediately flinched and sat back down, the movement aggravating a multitude of bumps and bruises. Naruto settled for rubbing gingerly at his aching head.

It was quite a few minutes before he actually thought to take in his surroundings, and figure out just where he had landed.

Looking around cautiously, Naruto realized he had no idea where he was. He definitely didn't remember any buildings or houses in the forests around Konoha, and as far as he knew, he knew Konoha and it's forests like the back of his hand. Random cliff he had fallen off of excluded, of course.

"What the hell?" Naruto muttered aloud, eyes taking in whatever details he could make out in the dim light provided by the moon.

Whatever building he had landed in was definitely abandoned. There was dust layering every inch of the ground he could see, and cobwebs damn near everywhere.

Off to his right was sheer darkness as far as he could tell, and to his left was what appeared to be the exit, not to far from where he was.

Looking up, Naruto saw that there was a hole in the roof. One he had made upon entry, of that he was sure, and apparently the same hole that the moon was shining through. It briefly occurred to Naruto that he was incredibly lucky, even blessed to have survived a fall of the magnitude that he did. A thought brushed to the side as continued interest in his location came to the forefront.

Not a moment later, a loud whistling sound shrieked through the obviously old structure, and Naruto yelped, startled.

"Okay... I'm outta here. This place gives me the creeps..." He muttered quietly, before limping for the building's exit hastily. As he exited the doorway, there was a clatter as something hit the ground behind him and Naruto yelped again before taking off for Konoha proper at a run, pain be damned. He was back within Konoha and in his apartment what felt like mere moments later, breathing heavily as he leaned against his front door.

After a few moments, Naruto's face scrunched up, thoughts of embarrassment running through his mind as he realized just how silly he must have looked.

"Some ninja I am! Running from the wind. Feh!" He spat, a blush heating his cheeks.

To take his mind off of his percieved foolishness, Naruto re-read some of the few scrolls he did have regarding something to learn of any sort, but Naruto's night ended not too long after that, the bed calling to him. It was a call he had no problem heeding.

---

The next day, after completing yet another grueling morning of D-ranked missions, Naruto found himself back in the forest. But he wasn't training.

The entire day, thoughts of just what was inside of that old building he had crashed into had plagued him, and as soon as Kakashi had dismissed Team 7 for the day, Naruto had made for the forest as fast he could. Excitement raced through him as he considered the possibilities.

'_Maybe it's some kind of mega weapon, or some long lost treasure!_' Naruto mused, thoughts running wild with the fame and glory he'd gain from his discovery of some long lost tomb of a legendary ninja.

It was surprisingly easy for him to find the building again in the afternoon light. He had left quite a trail in his mad rush to escape the place. He briefly wondered exactly how he found his way back to Konoha so easily, but again, his interest in his discovery outweighed such thoughts, and Naruto quickly focused on the building.

Now that he could see the place in the sunlight, and wasn't running from it fearing for his life, he could see it was some kind of temple, overgrown with vines and definitely older than the hills.

'_There's definitely something awesome in there!_' Naruto thought, excitement climbing at a rapid rate.

Running to the temple's entrance, he saw a wooden rectangle on the floor in the doorway, one he hadn't noticed the night before. Curious, he picked it up carefully, musing that it was likely the thing that made that clattering noise the previous night. Wiping the dust off of it, he could faintly make out "Gorinji Temple" carved into it.

"I've never heard of any Gorinji Temple..." Naruto muttered, confused. There certainly wasn't any such place mentioned in any of the classes back in the academy... Not that he particularly paid attention during the history portions, but still.

Now fervently hoping he had found some long lost temple of legend, Naruto somewhat cautiously made his way deeper into the temple.

With the sunlight filtering through the place, he could see that it consisted of a rather large space with pillars lining both sides of the temple interior. At the back, he could see a doorway that lead to some back rooms.

Caution forgotten as the prospect of a find overtook him, Naruto immediately ran for the doorway to the back rooms, ending up in a hallway with three doors on eiher side, and a last, huge set of doors at the end.

Naruto began to check the side rooms, excitement dimming more and more as each room held nothing of importance. Nothing that hid any kind of secret treasure or anything. He did happen upon a white gi in surprisingly good condition that took his interest, but it wasn't his style at all, and it was too big for him anyway.

By the time he reached the large doors at the end of the hallway, his mood had dampened considerably, and it was with a sigh that he pushed open the large doors, taking no notice of the faint pulse of chakra that emitted upon the door's opening.

Once in the room, Naruto was overcome by a strange feeling. He didn't know how to describe it, but it was definitely strange... Almost as if he was being... '_Judged? No, that would be nuts..._' He thought to himself.

He looked around the room, and immediately noticed first that there were torches lining the walls. Lit torches. The room was also devoid of dust, cobwebs, or other signs of disuse, although this didn't truly register to Naruto. The next thing he noticed was an altar of sorts against the far wall. His excitement returned full force, and he ran over to the altar.

Upon the altar, there was a long rectangular box, fairly nondescript.

Naruto wasted no time in opening it.

As soon as it opened, there was a flash of light, forcing Naruto to cover his eyes.

When nothing happened, he opened them slowly, somewhat afraid of what he'd see. He was a tad disappointed to find nothing but a ratty scroll inside the box, marked simply with...

"Ansatsuken..." Naruto muttered softly. "What the hell is that?"

With no regard for what the consequences might be, Naruto grabbed the scroll, and unrolled it somewhat quickly, again not noticing the faint pulse of chakra as the scroll was removed from it's housing. Luckily for the jinchuuriki, there didn't seem to be any consequences.

Naruto skimmed over the scroll briefly, eyes widening slowly as he took in it's contents.

"This. Is. AWESOME!" He said excitedly.

Without wasting another moment, Naruto plopped down, and began reading the scroll studiously. The scroll demanded every bit of his attention, and he was happy to devote every drop of it.

---

Despite appearances, Uchiha Sasuke did enjoy one thing other than brooding. It happened to be silence. And he enjoyed it very much. He was rather pleasantly surprised to find that due to the lack of a certain blond haired teammate of his showing up on time for roughly the third week in a row, the bridge that served as Team 7's meeting place was silent to the point of being peaceful. Serene even.

If this was going to happen every morning the dead last was late, Sasuke could learn to live with it.

The silence was powerful to be sure. So powerful, he doubted a voice of even Sakura's caliber could break it.

Uchiha Sasuke severely underestimated the vocal ability of his other teammate.

Unlike Sasuke, Haruno Sakura did not take well to not only having a late teacher, but a late teammate as well. No, it didn't sit well with her at all. And while under usual circumstamces, Sakura would greatly enjoy the time she had to herself with Sasuke, she had a breaking point.

The constant apparent laziness of both her teacher and Naruto was just too much for her. And she was so tired of not being able to say anything about it just because she was too nervous to say anything that would disturb or anger her crush. Said nervousness had finally been beaten down by pure rage, directed entirely towards the two missing members of her team.

Sasuke could almost hear the deep breath that Sakura sucked in just before her tirade began. It was like the calm before the storm.

The moment before Sasuke's beautiful silence could be shattered forever, Sakura's rant was cut of by a gloved hand taat clapped over her mouth, accompanied by a mild 'poof'. Sakura screamed, muffled by said gloved hand, and Sasuke turned a cautious eye to the hand's source, only to sigh as Kakashi waved back at him with a lazy "Yo."

Sakura whipped around, Kakashi's hand falling from her mouth and she stepped back, eyes wide. After a moment, the girl's eyes lit in recognition, and the fear in her eye quickly turned to righteous fury. She immediately took on the role of pink haired banshee with relish and a screech of "YOU'RE LATE!"

Kakashi held up a hand in a placating manner, and replied "Hey, hey. It's not my fault. As it happens, I had to save a little kid from a bunch of attacking nuke-nin. I couldn't just let him..." Kakashi trailed off as the glint in Sakura's eyes turned positively murderous, and with a defeated sigh, said "Fine. The truth is, a black cat crossed my path, and forced me to stumble onto the Path of Life." Kakashi said, his visible eye closing as he rather obviously smiled in a way tailored to irk his students.

A job accomplished beautifully, if the resulting cry of "LIAR!" was anything to go by.

Kakashi's smile only seemed to widen, leaving Sasuke amazed at just how expressive a single eye could be.

Kakashi clapped suddenly and said "Now that the pleasantries have been gotten out of the way, let's move on to important matters. First thing's first. Where's Naruto?"

Sasuke simply shrugged, and Sakura, still fuming, said "I don't know. You gave him your bad habits, Kakashi-sensei! He's even later than you now!"

Kakashi scratched the back of his head somewhat thoughtfully. despite the fact that Naruto had been late for days on end this particular week, this was the first time he'd actually arrived later than Kakashi himself. Resolving to find out what was going on later, Kakashi made to say something, only to be interrupted by the sound of a familiar loud voice shouting "Wait!" in the distance.

A look to the east revealed his wayward student running for all he was worth, minutes later coming to a stop at the bridge, breathing heavily.

Sakura took one look at Naruto and her fist flashed out, smashing into Naruto's head like the sledgehammer in disguise that it was. Kakashi cringed rather sympathetically as Sakura, swiftly flowing from one form of abuse to the next, screamed "You idiot! You have some nerve actually being later than Kakashi-sensei! Where the hell have you been!?!"

Naruto recovered fairly quickly for someone who had just forcefully faceplanted into an oak bridge, and hastily replied "I'm sorry Sakura-chan! I just overslept a bit. I guess I overdid the training last night..."

Sasuke wasn't paying attention to his blond teammate's explaination/attempt to appease his crush's wrath. He was a bit more concerned with Naruto's apparent change in wardrobe.

"What the hell are you wearing, dead last?"

"Eh?" Naruto glanced down at himself before regarding Sasuke with a wide, cocky grin. "Well, well, Bastard. It looks like you noticed my awesome new look!"

Naruto posed proudly, fists firmly planted on his hips and chest puffed out. He stood garbed in an orange karate gi with a loose blue t-shirt bearing a white print of the Konoha symbol under the uwagi, which was tied shut with a black obi bearing the FuRinKaZan kanji series. The sleeves of the uwagi had apparently been torn off, and the cuffs of the zubon were equally tattered. He wore brown combat gloves, also bearing the konoha symbol, basic blue ninja sandals, and had apparently had the faceplate of his hitae-ate sown into another, much longer, blue hachimaki. As the team took in his new look, Naruto turned around and posed once again, showing off the red spiral on the back of the uwagi. Arms crossed over his chest, Naruto looked back over his shoulder, grin considerably widened, and said "Oi! What do you guys think? Pretty cool, eh?"

Sasuke sneered, and said "You look like some kind of crappy manga reject."

Naruto gaped, and after a moment whipped around, finger pointing and mouth opening in preparation to retaliate just as Sakura continued "Yeah! Just who are you trying to impress with that get up, anyway?"

Naruto gaped a moment longer before hanging his head, muttering "You guys suck, you know that? It's not like you guys look loads better."

"What was that?!" Sakura ground out, eyebrow twitching and teeth bared menacingly.

"I-I mean, the Bas-Uh... Sasuke! I was talking about him! You look great a-as always, Sakura-chan!"

Kakashi watched on amused for a few minutes longer as Sakura predictably decided to take offense to the implication that the ever perfect Uchiha Sasuke didn't have equally perfect fashion sense, and, also predictably, retaliated violently.

He decided to step in just before Sakura did any serious damage, and said "Well kids, I believe we should get to business. Sakura, if you would be so kind as to allow Naruto to breath?"

Sakura seemed rather loathe to let go of Naruto's neck, but a raised eyebrow from Kakashi was enough to motivate her to give the blond genin a much needed chance to breathe. Despite her earlier shouting fit, Kakashi was still her teacher, and what he said, went.

As Naruto sucked in air like he had never had it before, Kakashi cleared his throat, and said "First order of business. I believe we have another rousing day of D-ranked missions ahead of us!"

The collective groan was music to Kakashi's ears. Even if he was secretly getting tired of the D-rank missions himself...

---

If looks could kill, then Sarutobi Hiruzen was sure that Tora the cat would have exploded a long time ago if the looks on the genin of Team 7's faces were anything to go by. Or at least on Naruto and Sasuke's faces.

The cat seemed to have taken a liking to Sakura, although that may have something to do with the fact that she was the only one of the three who didn't try to slaughter the thing (Really, the exploding tags were a bit much...), and had no problem giving it the affection she was sure it deserved.

Naruto and Sasuke firmly believed that the hellspawn deserved every bit of "affection" it received upon return to the Daimyo of Hi no Kuni's wife. Naruto in particular took great pleasure in watching the cat nearly suffocate as the Daimyo's wife profusely thanked Team 7 for their work, and stuck his tongue out at the cat as she left, Tora held firmly under one arm.

And he had good reason. The multiple claw and toothmarks across his arms and face, the rather large singed spot on his undershirt's sleeve, and the liberal amounts of twigs and leaves in his hair were small testaments to the insane hell he had gone through.

Sarutobi didn't even want to know where the twisted piece of steel the boy had dragged in behind him had come from, though it did look suspiciously like a beartrap of absurd size...

Clearing his throat gently as he signed the completion notice for yet another 'Tora the Cat Retrieval' mission and passed it to Iruka, the Sandaime Hokage smiled at the genin before him, and said "Well. I do believe that's another mission complete for Team 7. Now, I do believe I have another D-rank mission scroll here. One for the painting of the Yamanaka flower shop if i'm not mistaken. If you'll just give me a moment-"

"No."

There was a distinct silence as Iruka and Sakura turned wide eyed stares at Naruto, who's head was down, hair covering his eyes and so blocking most of his expression. When he raised his head, electric blue eyes blazing, he continued "No way! I'm so tired of these regular old chores! When the hell are we going to get to do real ninja work, Jiji?!?"

"Naruto! Show some respect! You can't speak to the Hokage that way!" Sakura hissed as she clapped her hands over Naruto's mouth to prevent any further ranting, just as Iruka began bellowing "Naruto, the D-Rank mission system is in place for a reason! You're part of a rookie genin team, you can't expect to go gallivanting off on high rank missions like they're some adventures to be taken at a whim! You're not experienced enough for higher missions yet!"

The distinct silence hadn't been gone long before it was dragged back by Sasuke's addition to the conversation. "The dead last is right. These menial chores are beneath us. It's about time we got something worth our time."

Iruka and Sakura both wore dumbstruck expressions.

Naruto took the opportunity to peel Sakura's hands off of his mouth and shout "See?! Even the Bastard agrees with me!"

Sarutobi chuckled, much to Iruka's surprise, and said " Truth be told, I'm surprised you two have lasted this long. You in particular, Naruto." He turned in his seat to face Sakura. "And you Sakura? How do you feel about taking a higher ranked mission?"

Sakura pointed to herself with a low squeak, and the Sandaime nodded. Blushing lightly, she replied 'Well... With all due respect Hokage-sama, even I'm a bit tired of doing these D-ranked missions. I wouldn't mind taking a higher ranked mission."

Sarutobi nodded, looking quite amused, and regarded Kakashi, a serious glint in his eyes. One the Jounin didn't miss.

"And what do you think, Kakashi?"

"I believe my team is more than ready for a C-ranked mission, Hokage-sama."

"Well then that's that." Sarutobi clapped, and reached for a scroll on his desk. "I have a perfect C-ranked mission for you right here. An escort mission to Wave Country."

Kakashi nodded, and said "Team 7 is ready, willing and able to accept this mission."

Naruto cheered even louder and began dancing around the room, Sasuke's smirk grew wider, and even Sakura grinned, although Inner Sakura may as well have been as enthusiastic as Naruto, shouts of 'Hell Yeah!' resounding through the pink-haired girl's head.

Sarutobi nodded at Iruka, who got up with a sigh and left the room. A few moments later, Iruka returned, an older man trailing in behind him. His cloths were simple, he was rather out of shape, and the stench of alcahol hugged him like a family member.

"Are these the people guarding me?! They're a bunch of runts! They don't look like anything special at all! Especially the shrimpy one in the orange. He looks like a light breeze would send him flying!"

Once again, Sarutobi mused about the possibilities of death by intense glaring, especially since all three genin were glaring at the old drunkard at once.

Kakashi glanced lazily at the man over the cover of his book (Sarutobi privately wondered when he had pulled it out.), and said "Don't worry. My students may be young, but they're more than capable. And besides, I'm an elite jounin. Anything they can't handle... Well, that's why I'll be there."

"Wait a damn second! Who the hell is this old drunk guy, and why is he here?!" Naruto hollered.

"Hey you watch yer damn tone, ya brat! You should respect your elders!"

"You'll get some respect when you earn some, you old drunk!"

Sarutobi rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on, and said "Team 7, meet your client."

The man cut off his bickering with Naruto to point to himself dramatically, and shout "Tazuna! The Super Bridge Builder!"

The silence was deafening.

* * *

**And so begins the mission to Wave Country. R&R as you like. I appreciate criticism just as much as I enjoy praise, so feel free to say what you like.**


	2. Getting into the Swing

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I wish I did, but meh.**

* * *

"Rising Dragon Fist"

Chapter 2

"Getting into the Swing"

-

Kakashi had known from moment one that, if his introduction was anything to go by, Tazuna was going to to prove to be a mighty pain in the rear.

His constant attempts to antagonize his poor students over the past 4 or so hours hadn't done anything to deter that notion. No, quite the contrary, if anything, Kakashi was more sure than ever that taking this particular mission may have been one of those "Bad Moves", that you just file away, and laugh about years later along with those who suffered with you.

Although if Naruto's expression was one to go by, then it would be many, MANY years before he could sit and laugh about this particular subject.

Mind you, Kakashi was gaining endless amounts of amusement from watching the aforementioned students get antagonized, but it probably wasn't very healthy for Naruto's face to be that red... Or to have quite that many veins throbbing on his forehead. At the least, it couldn't be good for his heart.

Ah well.

It was at this particular moment that Naruto chose to whirl around and finally give Tazuna the piece of mind that Kakashi assumed he had been so desperately holding back.

Privately, Sakura thought it was about time.

Even more privately, Sasuke agreed.

"Listen, ya old coot, I don't know what problem you have with me, but enough's enough! I ain't a shrimp, I ain't a brat, I'm more than good enough to defend you on this mission, and so are Sakura-chan and the Bastard, and dammit, I WILL be hokage one day, so- Oi! stop laughing at me!"

"Ha! Oh, kid you are rich!" the belly-deep chuckles Tazuna insisted on emitting weren't helping Naruto's mood in the slightest. No, if Kakashi was judging right, Naruto's facial expression had just changed from "Furious" to "Murderous".

It was pretty obvious that Naruto smiting the client with all of the wrath of heaven he could possibly muster wasn't going to help international relations with Wave Country.

And so, despite the tons of amusement Kakashi got out of watching Tazuna rile up his students, Kakashi had no choice but to be there to intercept Naruto mid-flight, before he caused Tazuna (as well as Team 7's reputation) untold amounts of harm. Of course, he didn't actually have to catch the flying blonde by the collar of his shirt, needlessly choking him for a moment, but meh. Details.

"Now, now, Naruto. No matter the client's decision to amuse himself at your expense, you can't go around killing him. It's unprofessional." Kakashi scolded, only semi-mockingly.

"But- But Kakashi-sensei! He's a horrible client! What kind of guy goes and actively tries to bother the guys trying to take care of him?!" Naruto sputtered, hands waving frantically in Tazuna's general direction.

"Admittedly, you do have a point, Naruto-" At this, Kakashi looked rather pointedly at Tazuna, who only looked at the sky, trying (and failing) to look as innocent as possible. "But still. You can't kill your client. One, as a representative of Konohagakure, it is your duy to maintain an aura of respectability and professionalism at all times. Even when you're so annoyed you could explode. Two, causing your client harm is not only unacceptable in general, but completely goes against the point of this mission. Which is to protect Tazuna-san. Not kill him. And number three, if you kill him, we won't get paid!" Kakashi finished with a rather obvious smile.

After a moment of contemplating arguing further, arms crossed over his chest coupled with a powerful glare and a deep frown in a rather defiant show, albeit one diluted by his feet hanging a good foot off of the ground, Naruto sighed, and hung his head in defeat.

"Yeah, I get it sensei." Naruto mumbled.

"Glad to hear it!" Kakashi chimed cheerfully, before depositing Naruto back on solid ground.

And so the group continued, Kakashi going back to his book, Sasuke and Sakura walking silently, and Naruto grumbling and kicking at the ground absently.

It was due to his kicking that Naruto, foot a-kicking, went splashing somewhat violently through a puddle as they passed.

"Ow!" went the puddle.

At this, the entirety of Team 7, save Kakashi, plus Tazuna, paused, and turned to stare at the aforementioned kicked puddle. If only because all three genin (and Tazuna) were fairly sure that puddles simply didn't go "Ow!".

For any reason.

"... Did you guys hear that?"

"... Hn."

"The puddle went ow."

"... Ow?"

"Yeah... Ow..."

Naruto proceeded to leap at the puddle, intent on testing this phenomenon.

The puddle disagreed with this action rather vehemently. Naruto figured that that must have been what happened as he took flight from a random uppercut that exploded from within said puddle.

Sasuke and Sakura both leaped back from the puddle, landing behind Kakashi and next to Tazuna as a pair of nin, one rubbing the back of his head and the other with a fist still extended into the air rose silently from the dissipating puddle, twin glares promising death and destruction to all people unfortunate enough to have chosen to remain in the vicinity.

Kakashi had just turned around when the two nin dashed past him on either side, a bladed chain wrapping around him as the nin appeared on other side of him.

"One down-" one of the nin hissed, rebreather giving the words a rather sinister undertone which added to the murderous glare he was giving the genin.

"Only the brats to go." the other finished, sinister undertone just as present, glare just as murderous.

Both nin then yanked their ends of the bladed chain, and Kakashi tore apart like so much paper.

Sakura screamed her dismay rather loudly, just loud enough to bring Naruto back from his stupor.

Shaking his head to clear it, and cursing the tree he had collided with, Naruto's vision cleared to give him a perfect view of Sasuke trying his damndest to hold off two enemy nin at once, Sakura apparently paralyzed with fear in front of Tazuna, what appeared to be pieces of Kakashi on the ground.

It was as the nin leaped over Sasuke forcing the boy to dodge the chain that sswung at him like some demonic jumprope that Naruto realized that he had to help. Especially once the nin began charging towards Sakura.

Naruto immediately stumbled to his feet and charged at the two attacking cloaked nin with a roar of rage, pulling back his fist to strike just before he reached the closest one's back.

The closer nin apparently heard Naruto's hasty steps (or, of course, the roar of rage), as he immediately whipped around blocking Naruto's blow with his palm, before gripping the boy's fist with his hand. Naruto attempted to strike with his other hand, but a hasty maneuver brought the nin's other elbow in contact with Naruto's wrist, and he then caught Naruto's other arm under his own.

"Oi, Meizu. It looks like you didn't hit this one hard enough." The nin rasped, chuckling darkly.

Meizu glanced back from his deadlock Sasuke, who had caught up with them, briefly and muttered "Then handle him, Gozu! We don't have time for these brats! We have to get rid of the bridge builder!"

Gozu only nodded his reply, and, releasing the arm clenched under his own, raised his hand, massive wicked looking claw glinting malevolently in the sun.

"Game over, kid." Gozu rasped, arm descending towards Naruto's head.

To the mist nuke-nin's surprise, Naruto dropped, wrapping his free hand in Gozu's cloak, and planting his foot firmly in Gozu's stomach. Then with a grunt, the boy hauled and rolled, sending Gozu flying head over heels over his grounded body, Naruto hopping to his feet a moment later.

As a side effect, the chain attaching Gozu to Meizu pulled taut, and Meizu was jerked back off of his feet, tripping and collapsing to the ground.

Sasuke made to immediately capitalize on his opponent's weakness, and leaped at Meizu, foot lashing out towards Meizu's head, but the missing-nin rolled to the side, simultaneously releasing a catch on his claw that freed him from the chain that was causing more harm than good at the moment.

At the same time, Naruto scrambled to his feet, and, noting Gozu still seemed dazed, shifted his feet, one in front of the other, and hastily cupped his hands at his side. Then, taking careful aim, he thrusted his cupped hands forwards, clearly expecting something to expel from his palms, but all that appeared was a puff of almost mocking smoke.

Naruto gaped, but frantically dove to the side as Gozu leaped to his feet and dove at Naruto, freed claw slashing at the space Naruto was in only moments ago.

The scramble continued on in this vein for some moments, even as Sasuke managed to beat back his foe with a sweeping kick to the ribs and a blow to the face, causing Meizu to retreat momentarily, but Naruto simply couldn't find time to collect himself from Gozu's relentless attacks. It was almost a completely overwhelming series of events for the poor genin. So much so, that Gozu was sure that if the bolnd tripped up, even once, then it'd be all over

So when Naruto eventually tripped, and Gozu took to the air, aiming to finish Naruto off with a single descending blow, the sudden foot to the face from the previously thought to be killed jounin was understandably unexpected.

Naruto was equally surpised to see what he was sure was to be his doom go spiraling off into the same tree he himself had connected with only a minute before, followed by his thought to be doomed sensei

Kakashi flashed over to Sasuke and Meizu, and knocked Meizu out with a swift chop to the neck, and in a whirlwind of motion that left Naruto unsure of what quite happened, the two nukenin were suddenly tied to a tree while Team 7, plus Tazuna, stood staring the twins down.

Kakashi glanced at his team and said "Well, that could have gone a bit better, but you guys didn't do too badly for your first in-mission fight." nodding to himself for a moment, Kakashi asked "Anyone want to tell me what exactly was done wrong? Or perhaps what went wrong?"

No one answered immediately, but Sakura soon muttered "I froze up..."

"Yes, that's one issue, but certainly not the only one. Anything else?"

Sasuke jerked his thumb at Naruto and said "The idiot posed like an idiot in the middle of the fight."

Naruto turned to shout out a reply, but Kakashi quickly cut him off. "While I did notice that, it's still not the big issue here. Try again."

When no other reasons came forth, Kakashi shook his head, and said "Allow me to explain then. The first mistake was attempting to jump on the puddle. Naruto, what if it had been a trap of a different sort? Or what if the one who struck you had chosen to strike with his claw instead of his hand, hm? The second, and perhaps largest issue was the fact that you were entirely uncoordinated. There was no semblance of teamwork, something I really shouldn't have to harp on after the survival test. Sakura froze and stayed in the background, while the both of you brawled with you opponents with little to no regard for your teammates. Sasuke, you noticed Naruto's pose, but did you attempt to help moments later when he was clearly on the losing end of the fight?"

"Hey!" Naruto cried. "I was just trying to catch myself! A few more seconds, and I would've been ready to flatten that guy!"

"Well Sasuke?" Kakashi asked as if Naruto hadn't said a word.

"I was preoccupied. It's not like I wasn't fighting, like some people." Sasuke carefully didn't say anyone's name, or glance in anyone's direction, but Sakura blushed in shame all the same.

Kakashi shook his head and tsked. "I'm not saying you should have taken your eyes off of your opponent, but a helping thrown kunai wouldn't have been too much to ask, now would it?"

"Feh." Sasuke stuffed his hands in his pockets and turned his head.

"Obviously I could mention the fact that Sakura should have provided back up for either one of you boys, but the fact that she froze up takes care of that for me, now doesn't it?"

Sakura's blush deepened, but still she said nothing.

"Naruto, another issue was the fact that you yelled when attacking your opponent. The entire point to being a ninja is the stealth. Yelling is certainly not accomplishing anything stealthy."

Naruto made to open his mouth to shout again, but caught Kakashi's pointed stare, and closed his mouth, suddenly understanding what Kakashi was talking about.

By this point, all three genin were showing their various degrees of embarassment, but Kakashi pressed on.

"Of course, there's also the biggest mistake, the fact that-"

"Oi, lay off the kids, eh?!" Tazuna suddenly blurted out. "I mean, they did their jobs right? I'm still alive, ain't I? They're just kids! You don't have to keep pointing out what they did wrong!"

"-The fact that you didn't have the proper information necessary to be prepared for an event like this. A mistake that is cetainly no fault of yours, kiddos." At this, Kakashi turned a rather stern eye to Tazuna.

"While I understand that they are indeed just children, Tazuna-san, If I don't point out what was done wrong, they could easily make the mistakes again. Something that could cost either the mission or their lives in the future. And that won't happen on my watch."

Tazuna flinched at this, but Kakashi wasn't finished. "And back to he subject of not having the correct information, I do believe you have some explaining to do, Tazuna-san. I don't believe the mission details stated anything about encountering enemy nin of any sort. Now why would such an important piece of information be mitted, hmm?"

Tazuna flinched again, but was not immediately forthcoming with an answer, so Kakashi pressed harder.

"This lack of information has caused danger to both yourself and my students, and has easily upped the rank of the mission to a level which you certainly haven't paid for, Tazuna-san. That fact alone is grounds for me to call off the mission and return home. You had better come up with a good reason for me not to do so."

Tazuna sighed, and held up his hands to stave off any further words. "Okay, okay. Yeah, this mission ain't exactly as advertised."

Kakashi gave him a look that stated his opinion of that fact rather clearly, but Tazuna ignored it, and continued.

"It turns out this super dangerous guy is after my life. I wouldn't be all tha surprised if you recognize him, if not by face, than at least by reputation."

At this, Tazuna suddenly took on an air of someone under much weight, and ground out between clenched teeth "That scummy shipping magnate, Gatou."

At this Kakashi raised an eyebrow, but it was Sakura who replied "Gatou? Isn't he one of the wealthiest people in the world because of his shipping business? What reason would he have to come after you, Tazuna-san?"

Tazuna sighed and ran a hand over his face before answering. "Officially, yeah, he owns and runs a big shipping business that dominates sea-based trade routes throughout the elemental countries, but that's not where his big money comes from. Secretly, he sells all kinds of illegal items including illegal drugs, and aand other crazy stuff, and has huge gangs of thugs and ninjas at his command that he uses to bully competition out of the picture. He's a super nasty guy."

"About a year ago, he took an interest in Wave, since Wave was a big trade port before he got a hold of it. Through liberal use of that illegal money and those thugs I was talking about, he got control of Wave's entire shipping industry. He has a monopoly on all the business coming in and out of wave now."

Tazuna took off his glasses, and began absently wiping them on his shirt, while he continuted to explain.

"About two months ago, I had the idea to build the bridge from Wave to Fire Country. Gatou couldn't let that happen though."

At this, Sakura slapped her fist in her palm, and said "Oh, I get it! If you finish the bridge, Gato won't have the control anymore! So he wants to get rid of you!"

Tazuna nodded at this, and Kakashi added "Then it's safe to assume that these nin are on Gatou's payroll."

Tazuna nodded again, and replied "I've never seen 'em before, but it's not even a question. Gatou hired 'em."

"That still doesn't explain why you left that, or the fact that nin could be coming after you out of the details when you hired us." Kakashi mused.

Tazuna shook his head. "Because of Gatou, nobody in Wave has enough money to pay for a mission of that kind of rank. It would have to be at least a B-rank, right?" At this, Kakashi nodded. "Then we definitely couldn't afford it. Even our Daimyo doesn't have enough money."

Tazuna sighed again, and said "Well, I would understand if you guys quit now. I doubt I'd make it back to my poor daughter or my little 10 year old grandson on my own, but I wouldn't want to put you kids in any danger either..."

"No way we're gonn quit now, old man! What kind of nin would we be if we backed out on you now?!" Naruto shouted, voice filled with confidence.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted in agreement.

"Yeah, it's our duty to finish the mission!" Sakura finished.

Tazuna's eyes filled slowly with hope, and he turned to Kakashi, who shrugged, and said "Who am I to argue with that logic. I guess we're still hired, at least until we're sure you're safe."

Tazuna smiled, and replied "That's super great. You guys won't regret this!"

---

"Wow! You really designed this thing, old man?! It's huge!"

"Damn right, brat! It's my pride and joy!"

Naruto wasn't the only one in awe as the rest of Team 7 gazed upon the vast expanse of Tazuna's incomplete bridge. Despite it's incomplete state, the bridge was undeniably impressive, stone support pillars glittering beautifully due to the light reflecting off of the water.

"Oi, keep it down back there, will ya?" The boatman hissed. "We'll be in deep trouble if we get caught out here!"

"Sorry..." Tazuna mumbled, while Naruto simply clapped a hand over his mouth, and flashed the boatman an apologetic look.

Once they passed the other end of the tunnel beneath the bridge, the driver steered them to a dock off to the side, out of the way by some vegetation.

"This is as far as I go, Tazuna. I'm getting out of here as fast as I can." The boatman whispered.

"Yeah, you'd better get going. Thanks a lot." Tazuna replied as he stepped onto the dock along with Team 7.

Once the boatman had left, Tazuna turned to Team 7 and said cheerfully "Alright guys. Let's get me home safely!"

---

As Team 7 made their way leisurely down the forest path leading to Tazuna's village, none of them were aware of the malevolent stare following their every move.

"It makes sense that Meizu and Gozu got beat if the old man has Sharingan Kakashi guarding him." The owner of the eyes muttered to himself. "Looks like I might get to have some fun on this mission after all..."

* * *

**The wave arc continues! Next: The Demon of the Mist Attacks!**

**Read, enjoy, and let me know what you think if you have a comment or criticism.**


End file.
